Mulege River Fishing

...you bet it did some good, Comitan. After the brush is cleared and the channel is dredged, they're going to introduce peac-ck bass so Pompano can cast from his private and personalized stool at the Jungle...

But that ain't Ray Cannon... this is Ray Cannon

Here's a scan of Cannon with black snook from Mulege, taken from his Sea of Cortez book. And as for a "slight sense of theater," well, his version of snook fishing in Mulege had horns blowing at the prison and people running for the hills. But he was, after all, a Hollywood movie guy.

Kira describes Cannon and the snook in his Cannon biography. The snook in this picture were speared during the previous night. Supposedly, after great efforts, Cannon did hook one on a hook and line, but it was then speared instead of gaffed and no record application could be submitted.

As I first began fishing, I found Cannon's first book on our basement bookshelf. Everything you needed to know about local saltwater fishing. And I still have that book, here in Baja. Cannon was a hero, right up there with Sandy Koufax. I never got to meet Koufax, but I did meet Cannon at one of the boat shows in LA at the Pan Pacific Auditorium. And having been to Baja a few years before, I quickly grabbed Cannon's The Sea of Cortez when it was released a few years later. And of course, everytime I drive by the river at Mulege I think of the giant snook, although I have no idea if there are any left.

Pomp, funny things happen in the sportfishing media. I had a partner in the flyfishing business, who years before was a guide in Jackson Wyoming. He described a visit by Curt Gowdy and the American Sportsman crew. The local guides were asked to catch and refridgerate some big ones in advance, "just in case." Well, the weather turned bad, the fishing was terrible, but big investments were committed and the show had to go on, so it did, with artful shots of fly anglers pulling on big rocks, then posing with thawed fish.

But that's better than the magazine photo of the famous Idaho guide and flytyer releasing a mounted trout into a stream. Hey, writing fishing stories is easy, but coming up with a supporting photo can be tough!

Thanks for the river pictures.

Definitely catch & release!

FlyfishinPam used to have a photo on her site, maybe still does, of a fellow Montanan with a Loreto area snook. But either Bill or Pam wouldn't say just where it was caught. From what I know of Bill he might not remember where he caught it, or maybe didn't know where he was when he caught it.

But there are some estuaries around that look like they could have some snook in them.

When Loreto Bay finishes their estuary project, expect some big ones.

Really.

Ain't Ray Cannon!

Now plant mangroves along the river bank to provide cover and improved fish habitat, and you can sell carbon offsets over the internet. You can use the proceeds from that to buy gas for the outboard.

If that's Lake Michigan you're a lot older than you look Pompano!

Early shot of Pompano dividing the waters from the earth:

Mexican Pargo?

About those pargo. Saw a pic of one, not barred, but red, that weighed 55 lbs. on the hulltruth fishing site. Huge. Caught somewhere in Mexico. Possibly in Sea of Cortez.

Was this how the term "snookered" got started..........by a fisherman turned writer????

Restocking the Mulege with Snook?To make it happen, we're talking about a hatchery and knocking-out that dam below the mission.